It's noon on 16 February 1942, at an Allied airbase at Koepang, Dutch Timor, on the eastern edge of the Dutch East Indies (DEI). The Killer Pelicans immediately scrambled five Wildcats to meet the enemy.

Five Wildcats taking on six bombers with three escorts, this should be interesting!

It's noon on 17 February 1942, at an Allied airbase at Koepang, Dutch Timor, on the eastern edge of the Dutch East Indies (DEI). Japanese bombers are inbound but the Killer Pelicans were only able to scramble a single Wildcat to meet the enemy.

Looking pretty lonely out here, but hey, we got this, one stud fighter pilot taking on three bombers.

But yes, the orange tracer is missing. The reason is 1) the planes are so small the orange tracer will dwarf them, and 2) the planes are so small that I couldn't (didn't?) use magnets on them, so there's nothing for the tracer to stick to. Using the tracer on a separate stand, like I do in the ground fights, won't work, it's too long, the squares are only 1" x 1".

It's noon on 19 February 1942, at an Allied airbase at Koepang, Dutch Timor, on the eastern edge of the Dutch East Indies (DEI). The Killer Pelicans have scrambled three Wildcats to meet the enemy.

Yesterday the Pelicans shot down one Oscar and one Helen, at the cost of two of their own precious Wildcats (Ensign Radecek made it back to base, but Lieutenant Collins, the Squadron Commander, was KIA), and a nearby munitions factory was nearly destroyed (10 more damage points, 29/32).

Two days ago the Pelicans shot down one Helen and lost their only Wildcat engaged, with Lt Dapper being declared Missing In Action. Two Japanese bombers bombed the munitions factory, causing moderate damage (11 more points, 19/32).

Three days ago the Pelicans shot down one Oscar and three Helens, at the cost of three of their own precious Wildcats (Lt Case made it back to base, shot, Ensign Green made it back safely, and Ensign Davis was KIA), and the radar station at Koepang was destroyed while a nearby munitions factory was lightly damaged (8/32).

Four days ago the Pelicans shot down one Oscar and one Helen, at the cost of two of their own precious Wildcats (Lt French made it back to base, burned badly, Ensign Bordagaray was KIA), and the radar station at Koepang was lightly hit (another ten damage points, 23/32).

Five days ago the Pelicans shot down one Oscar and four Helens, at the cost of one of their own precious Wildcats (and the pilot, Ens Bruce, is missing), and the radar station at Koepang was not hit (still 13/32), and one of their pilots (Lt Case) won the Medal of Honor, scoring five kills to become the Pelicans' first ace.

Six days ago the Pelicans shot down three Oscars and two Helens, at the cost of three of their own precious Wildcats, and the radar station at Koepang suffered moderate damage (13/32), though one of their pilots (Fitzsimmons) won the Navy Cross, scoring three kills before getting shot down.

Last run out of the poster board playing surface, thanks for bearing with me! Three Wildcats climbing to intercept three Helens escorted by two Oscars.

At this stage of the game, the Killer Pelicans are down to 5 serviceable aircraft and Koepang is in danger of being overrun by Japanese landing forces, and so the evacuation is ordered and they boarded a ship for northern Australia, hoping to re-group and get back in the fight to halt the Japanese onslaught across the Pacific.

My next campaign stop is with the USAAF Chickenhawks, flying their P-40s out of Australia and then New Guinea, but back to the USN Killer Pelicans for action in the Coral Sea and Midway, then linking up with the USMC Dirt Divers out of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. By that point I'll be working the ground side of the Solomons as well, maybe back to some cruiser actions on the water. Stay tuned!

So I've gotten deep into Thomaston's "Tiny Air Combat," having bought and mounted a slew of them:

The whole mess, a ton of WWII and Post-WWII stuff.

I finished up all the WWII stuff. I'd been playing a makeshift gaming surface; I'm happy to report that I've finished my new, permanent gaming surface, which you can see under the box holding the aircraft.